Caucasian Shamshir with inscription for translation
 

Hello,

I have this Shamshir with a Caucasian damascus blade. On the blade is a gold koftgari inscription, I would say in Arabic language. At one side it is unfortunately partially lost, but I tried to complete it with Paint. Of course it is possible that I made some mistakes or it is still not complete.
A translation would be very nice. :)
Also your comments regarding the origin or the age are welcome.
The blade looks well used and the handle, which reminds me of Ottoman Kilij swords, was repaired not very professional.

Dimensions: total 88.5cm; blade 76cm

At first the side with inscription in good condition:

The side with completed inscription:

Further pictures of the other parts:

More pictures:

If somebody wishes I can make additional better pictures.

Some blade details:

Hmm, maybe my sword is less interesting than I thought :D
Or the pictures are too bad.
No comments at all?

It's very beautiful sword but I am totally ignorant about the blades of the Caucasus and the Middle East. :shrug:

Ok I'll just copy & paste the last comment:

"It's very beautiful sword but I am totally ignorant about the blades of the Caucasus"

I'm sure someone like Ariel will tell you more.

Now about the sword, IMHO it's not a shamshir but a saif, probably from Syria or the Arabian peninsula during the Ottoman period.

The pistol grip and the guard are typical from the Ottoman swords.

Your "was repaired not very professional" is very polite. These crap repairs were very often done by Bedouins.

I have two of these swords always with different blades, one Persian and one European... I think the Bedouins took what they liked and what they could afford.
:)

Yes, the handle has been more ruined than repaired :rolleyes:
But the blade is good, so I bought it.
I think the blade is caucasian because mechanical damascus was a bit more common there and the floral Koftgari-decor looks not really typical ottoman to me. Daggers and swords from Georgia, Daghestan etc. have sometimes a similar decoration. But the handle looks ottoman, I agree.

While I would defer to any observations made by Ariel, who has outstanding knowledge on Caucasian arms, I have learned a good deal as far as working familiarity, especially from Kirill Rivkin's "Arms and Armor in the Caucusus".

I agree with Kubur in that the general status of this hilt and the notably poor application of decoration does resemble the kind of field work done by Bedouin in Arabian regions. They favored Ottoman styled hilts, and often used blades acquired from the Caucusus.

This blade I think may be Russian, and the 'damascus' blade may well be the Russian bulat. The fullering is similar to other Russian blades I have seen on Georgian swords. The script is I believe Georgian.

The blade is OUTSTANDING!!!

kwiatek, where are you? :D
Here are some more pictures: